15 Years On
by That Aussie Gurl
Summary: It has been 15 years since the night Kensi regrets the most: the day the military police knocked on her door telling her her dad was never coming home. How is Kensi coping 15 years on? One-shot, G/Kensi pairing with some fluffiness/friendship. Depends how you read it.


**15 Years On…**

_**One-Shot**_

…

_**By That Aussie Gurl**_

_**Hey Guys! Random one-shot idea that I decided to follow through! The dates are important and do actually match up to the show (Yes, I did do my research which proves to be dangerous this time of year as spoilers do lurk on the wonderful thing people call the web!) No spoilers and kinda ahead of time but oh well! Haha(; **_

_**Random thought for those die-hard, picky, notices everything type of fans (yes, I am one of them…); If Kensi's dad died when she was 15 and the last time she saw her Mum before Blye, K. Part 2, who did she go live with? Or did she just live with no one whilst being a 15 year old in school? Random thought that came to me – would love to hear your theories! The show hasn't mentioned anything about that little blank gap in her 'life timeline'. Haha!**_

_**Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own it. (Don't own Titanic either if you wanted to get really picky…) :P**_

_**Trivia: On the 20/12/2012 it really will be 15 years since her dad was murdered…(:**_

_**Background info: Callen and Kensi are not really anything; both have feelings for each other that haven't been revealed to each other yet but to themselves. Everything else is the same as on the show. **_

_**Date in this story: 20/12/2012.**_

* * *

OSP was full of Christmas buzz, it was four days until Christmas and everyone, well almost everyone, was excited for their previously made Christmas plans. Sam and his family were going away for a short holiday, Nell was going to visit her parents, Eric was going to spend the day surfing with Deeks, Hetty was… Well, Hetty was going to do what Hetty does on the joyous holiday (whatever that is), Callen hadn't decided what he was going to do but had an offer from Sam to spend it with him and Kensi hadn't mentioned anything about Christmas – she hadn't even acknowledged the holiday! However, it was still four days until the actual day and the team was stuck doing their mound load of paperwork from previous cases, the most recent closed in the early hours of the morning.

It was a pretty boring, slow day. Sam and Callen constantly bickering and doing whatever they could to get out of their paperwork, in which Deeks would include himself in to also get out of the mound of paperwork. Kensi would generally involve herself with them as well, as all of them hated paperwork with a passion but today she sat at her desk doing her paperwork, not saying a word. After a couple of hours the team got worried, it was incredibly un-like Kensi.

Without warning, Kensi got up from her desk and walked towards the gym. The three men seized the opportunity to talk in private.

"What's wrong with her?" Deeks asked concerned.

"I don't know." Callen answered, also looking very concerned.

"She has been kinda different this week, has she mentioned anything?" Sam asked, entering the conversation.

"No, well, yes. I asked her about it and she just said that she hasn't been sleeping well due to her neighbours but I'm starting to think it is something else." Callen answered, thinking about the junior agent.

The bullpen fell into silence as each person was in their own thoughts about the female agent. She meant a lot to each team member and when she went through hard times, like they guessed she was at the moment, it broke their hearts.

Ripping them out of their silence, Callen got out of his chair and started to walk towards the gym. Sam and Deeks wasted no time in following him, they wanted to know what was wrong with her as much as Callen.

* * *

_Punch, left hook, right hook. Kick. Repeat. _

Standing at the threshold of the gym, Callen watched the woman punch the hell out of the punching bag. After a while, Callen decided to slowly approach the tiring woman knowing this was the safest approach and he would have more chance with him leaving the conversation in one piece.

"Kensi?" Callen asked once the beating to the poor punching bag had ceased.

Breathing hard, Kensi replied as she took off her gloves; "Yeah?"

Callen took the fact that she wasn't yelling at him as a good sign so he took another couple of steps closer as the two onlookers stayed near the gym threshold.

Reaching out, Callen put a hand on her shoulder; "You okay?" He asked concern laced in his voice.

Laughing, Kensi turned around to face him with a small smile on her face (which Callen deuced was her mask); "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"You got up from your desk out of nowhere and practically ran out of the bull pen plus you have been acting a little… different… the past couple of days." Callen said apprehensively. He decided honesty was the best policy.

"I was over the paperwork, couldn't concentrate anymore. And I already told you, my neighbours are keeping me up all night. Now, if you excuse me. I'm going to have a shower!" And with that, Kensi left with a swish turn as she headed towards the female change rooms.

Turning towards the threshold, Callen looked at the two worried men. Shaking his head, Sam and Deeks headed towards the agent.

"What did she say?" Deeks asked worried.

"She was having a break and stuck to her neighbour story." Callen answered glancing at the woman's change rooms where Kensi was at that point in time.

"Do you believe it?" Sam asked.

"Nope. There is definitely something going on behind those damn walls of hers, just what though is anyone's guess." Callen replied with a sigh as the three men retreated back to the bullpen where the glorious mound of paperwork awaited them.

* * *

Just before lunch time Eric bounded down the stairs and wolf whistled towards the OSP agents to let them know they had a case. He could tell the three men were grateful, but not in the way that they normally would be for getting them out of paperwork, in a way that said; "thanks for getting me out of an awkward situation." He wondered what was going on; ever since Kensi got back from her shower the bullpen had been a lot quieter than normal. He'll talk to Nell; she will probably have a fair idea on what is going on.

* * *

The case was a simple one, unlike many others they generally came across. A Petty Officer was murdered and they had a strong lead on who exactly did the crime thanks to laziness from the murderer and leaving evidence behind. The group of four went to pick up the suspect from where the GPS in his phone said he was.

From here, things went a little south and the prayer that they would find out what was wrong with Kensi may have half come true but if they had known it would have this way they may not have wanted it too.

The foursome arrived in two separate cars and walked inside the little store where their suspect; Craig Dum was working. Of course, as they enter he looks up and without a second thought makes a dash for the exit. Sam and Callen took off after him while Kensi and Deeks went around the front to cut him off. As they approached the back alley, Kensi first, they saw Dum making his escape down the alley, at a quick pace, looking behind him but not in front of him. Quickly, Kensi gave him a right hook to the jaw as she had not time to pull her weapon out and yell the normal commands of: _"Freeze! Federal Agents!" _Wincing in pain, the suspect put a hand to his jaw before the pain in his eyes converted to a look of absolute anger.

Standing upright and clenching his fists, Dum made an attempt to fight Kensi but Kensi being Kensi PLUS her in a mood that makes her not tolerate ANYTHING he was soon on the floor in more pain. Kensi had blocked his feeble punch and reversed it so hard; his shoulder had popped out of its socket. She then continued to, whilst still holding his arm in her firm grip, kick him in the 'gentleman's region' before reverting to his stomach. As she let go, he slumped to the ground in pain. Normally that would be enough for Kensi but today she was feeling more irritable than normal, so for some reason she proceeded to hold him to the ground whilst punching his face until his nose and jaw were indeed broken. But before she could attempt to do anymore damage a pair of strong arms grabbed her around her waist and pulled her off the now near unconscious suspect.

The owner of the strong arms half carried, half dragged the distressed agent towards their cars trying to calm her down;

"Kens, Kensi! It's okay, just calm down!"

"No! Let me go! I need to finish him!" Though, she would never know why. It's not like she had any special reason to beat him up more than your average suspect – he was just a really good punching bag and lately she was constantly in a violent mood.

"You have, Kens, you have." Callen said worried. All three boys had yelled at her to stop and walk it off but she didn't stop, she either simply ignored them or was so focused on beating the living daylights out of him that she hadn't heard them.

As he turned her around so he was still restraining her but now her face was facing him rather than her back, he could see the anger still in her eyes. Callen knew that something was wrong. The way she was acting the past few days plus this act of violence told him so; "What's wrong Kens?"

"Nothing." Kensi answered quickly - too quickly.

"Kensi. Do you seriously think that I would believe that? My favourite agent – someone I know extremely well?" Callen said with a small smile.

He saw her eyes start to well up as she furiously tried to stop them.

"It's okay Kens. You can tell me." He told her as he pulled her into a gentle embrace. Not long after he heard muffled sobs and felt a wet patch starting to form on his chest where he head was. It broke his heart to pieces when he realised she was crying. It was hard enough watching when she was interrogating Talbot and she started to cry but now she was crying on him and that was even harder.

Rubbing her back to soothe her Callen just stood there providing comfort and support until she was ready to talk. After a few minutes, Callen felt Kensi slowly lift her head up as she sniffled and tried to clear the tear streaks from her face.

"Hey," Callen said gently, as he used his thumb to wipe away the run away tears, "you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Kensi said with a small smile, "Sorry for making your shirt wet."

Callen looked down to see the wet patch from Kensi's tears, "I don't mind." He said with a smile as he pulled her closer so he was sitting on the Challengers bonnet and Kensi was standing in between his legs, his arms around her waist.

"Wanna tell me what this is all about?" Callen asked gently looking her in the eyes.

"No." Kensi replied immediately with a straight face whilst boring her eyes back into his _gorgeous _blue eyes.

Trying to muffle the small laugh threatening to come up after Kensi's indignant statement he diverted the conversation to where their partners were coming back. He knew Kensi was still angry from whatever was bugging her, and he also knew that whatever it was was pretty big if she got all emotional about it and cried onto Callen (something he knew she would deny later). But he also knew (and hoped) that the crying would have helped.

"Here comes Sam and Deeks." Callen said as Kensi turned around to get a look at what he just told her. As she turned around she backed into Callen so she was now leaning against him as he stayed seated on the cars bonnet and his arms firmly around her waist with Kensi's hands on top of his.

"Hey guys." Sam said with a smirk, he would never admit this out loud but he could see that his partner and Kensi sure made a cute couple.

"Where's Dum?" Kensi asked, putting emphasis on the 'Dum' part although she made it sound more like Dumb.

"Probably ICU by now." Deeks replied with a smirk.

"Oh, right." Kensi replied as if she had completely forgotten what had unravelled a few moments ago, "so what now?"

"All we need is a confession from him once he wakes up and it's a closed case. All evidence we have matches to him but since it is pretty flimsy we still need the confession." Sam replied, "Hetty wants us back at OSP for de-brief before we head home."

"Alright, let's get this over and done with." Callen said sighing. He hated the de-briefing part of a case.

* * *

She didn't know what happened. _I have turned into a sissy girl! That's what happened! And on Callen too! _Kensi was furious with herself. She knew today was tough because of what the day was but she had never cried in public before! She generally watched _Titanic_ with beer and ice cream before falling asleep on the couch. But no, today she cried on Callen. She knew the rest of the team would find out and they would all think of her as the weak link. She couldn't believe it!

_SMASH!_

In her anger, Kensi had unknowingly picked up a glass plate that was sitting on the bench and chucked it against the wall. And then continued in such fashion with other glass objects lying around.

At first, the angry was towards herself and being a wuss and then it directed to her father who had died and the man that had murdered him and taken him away from her: her best friend.

Before she knew it, she was throwing objects at her poor wall, with glass cuts covering her hands, face, and arms and tears streaming down her face. She was so enthused with her 'little activity' that she didn't hear the door open and shut. She didn't hear the quiet footsteps that came closer and closer to where she was currently throwing a hissy fit – a very dangerous one – She didn't hear the yells of her name, she didn't notice a thing until a pair of very strong and very muscular arms grabbed her and pulled her close to his chest to constrict her from doing any more damage.

She fought and fought to get out of his grip but he was too strong so she gave up and leant against him. Before she knew it, her body gave out on her as she fell to the floor. Just before she hit it, the same pair of muscular arms caught her and lifted her up, bridal style. Smoothly, he carried her to the couch and gently laid her down.

Kneeling in front of where she laid, he gently caressed the side of her face that wasn't bleeding and asked with concern evident in his voice;

"What happened?"

"I don't know… One minute I was getting ice-cream and beer, the next I was chucking whatever I get my hands on at the wall." Kensi replied, looking sad and confused.

"Let me see your hands and arms." Callen asked as he stretched out his hands to motion for her to do the same.

Without saying a word, Kensi complied, because in truth she was too tired and in too much pain to argue.

"Kens, what am I going to do with you?" Callen asked with a smile as he finished examining her cut and bruised body.

"What are you doing here?" Kensi asked suddenly instead of answering his question as it occurred to her that they never originally had any plans.

"I wanted to check up on you, make sure you're okay. You know, after today and all." Callen said but Kensi knew he was holding something back.

"Callen. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself!"

"Yeah, I know that Kens."

"Well then why did you come over?" Kensi asked again, promising to get to the bottom of the real answer.

Sighing, Callen looked into Kensi's eyes and being over dramatic said; "LAPD got a report from one of your neighbours. They complained too much noise was coming from your apartment. When LAPD saw that it belonged to a NCIS agent they rang Deeks who in turn rang me to check up on you."

"Really?" Kensi replied, looking a bit ashamed, embarrassed and sad.

"Yep. Now, I'll go get some betadine and Band-Aids and you'll be good as new!" Callen said as he got up in search of the medical supplies. Just as he was about to walk away from the couch, he bent down and whispered into Kensi's ear;

"But that was just an excuse to come see you."

As he walked off, Kensi smiled to herself, _Maybe he did care after all. _

After a couple of minutes Callen walked back into the room equipped with betadine and Band-Aids. Kneeling in front of Kensi, who was now sitting on the couch, he gently grabbed her hands and started to patch them up. Once he was done he got up and put the first aid items back where he found them. As he entered the room, he noticed Kensi getting rather fidgety; especially with the newly placed bandages.

Sitting next to her on the couch, Callen grabbed her hands to stop the fidgeting and gently pulled her into him so she was lying against his chest.

"What's really wrong, Kens?" he asked gently, squeezing his hands.

At the sincerity of his voice, Kensi broke down into a big, blubbery mess as the tears that had been threatening to spill out finally won and raced down her face.

Pulling her closer and attempting to calm her down, Callen whispered calming words into her hair as he squeezed her hands and pulled her closer.

"Shh… It's okay; it's going to be okay." Callen had no idea why he said the second half of the sentence, he didn't even know what was wrong, and it kind of just came out.

After what felt like eternity but what was more like three to four minutes, he felt Kensi sniffling and her sobs subside.

"So-sorry Ca-Callen." Kensi managed to choke out.

"Hey, hey, that's okay. Wanna tell me what this is all about?" He asked with gentleness and concern laced in his voice.

"Umm… Well… today has been exactly 15 years since my Dad was murdered. I know, I should be over it by now… This is stupid, I'm sorry for wasting your time Callen." Kensi said in a sad voice as she attempted to get up from Callen's clutches, embarrassed with herself.

Pulling her back down, Callen replied; "Don't be sorry! It is certainly not stupid and I am so sorry Kens that you have to go through this. But remember, you are not alone in this. Sam, Deeks, Nell, Eric, Hetty are all here for you. And Kensi," Callen said, taking a break to give her a hand a comforting squeeze, "I will ALWAYS be here for you. No matter what time of day or night, no matter what situation. Whether it is someone to talk to or just someone else to have in the room, I will ALWAYS be here for you. I am NEVER going to leave you."

"Thanks, G." Kensi replied sounding relieved and very tried.

As Kensi drifted off into dreamland in the safety of Callen's arms she thought; _15 years ago, I lost my best friend. 15 years on, I gain another one. Rest in Peace Daddy, I will always love you._

* * *

**Dedicated to anyone who has lost a loved one. May God's peace be with you. **


End file.
